280 DISEASES OF SWINE 



their own neglect, as well as does the poor hog who is unable to 

 offer any resistance to this form of mistreatment. 



Stomach and Bowel Diseases Due to Neglect. — Improper food 

 and improper methods of feeding never fail to produce stomach and 

 bowel disorders and diseases. In a great number of cases these 

 stomach and bowel diseases are accompanied and made worse by 

 the presence of intestinal worms of various kinds. These worms 

 do not of themselves produce cholera, but they do create a condition 

 of the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowel which makes it 

 very easy for the animal to fall a victim of the virus of hog-cholera 

 if it makes its appearance. 



Treat Hogs at First Sign of Danger. — If we are to keep our 

 animals healthy these common diseases must receive proper at- 

 tention. Do not wait until the animals are run down from disease of 

 the stomach and bowels and beginning to show signs of cholera 

 before starting to give them attention and then expect to save them. 

 The time to get busy is at the first sign of danger. Just as the 

 first loose spike along a railroad track is the signal for prompt 

 repair, so it should be here. The railroad companies do not wait 

 for a loose rail to throw one of their speedy passenger trains into 

 the ditch before making the necessary repairs; so we should not 

 wait for cholera to get a foothold in our herds before giving them 

 proper attention if it is needed. 



Intestinal worms in pigs and hogs are so commonly neglected 

 that a great many owners have come to regard them as rather 

 normal inhabitants of the stomach and bowels in these animals. 

 Such is not the case, however, by any means. While it is true 

 that, as a rule, these worms do not produce severe symptoms, yet 

 no pig will thrive as well with them present as it will if they are 

 absent, and so we should make it our duty to rid our hogs of them 

 at the first sign of their presence. 



There are a number of remedies which may be used for the pur- 

 pose of freeing your animals from intestinal worms. A large 

 percentage of the hog remedies on the market put up by patent 

 medicine firms contain medicinal agents which destroy intestinal 

 worms, and it is to these properties that these remedies usually owe 

 their curative value if they possess any. The way in which these 

 remedies keep your animals from having cholera is by keeping them 



